1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking hob comprising a plurality of electrically powered heating elements (for example resistors or halogen lamps) distributed below a heat-resistant surface (for example of glass ceramic) on which a utensil is placed for the heat treatment (for example, cooking, heating or thawing) of a food contained therein, the heating elements being disposed in matrix arrangement, in accordance with the introduction to the accompanying claim 1.
2. Description of the Related Art
High versatility cooking hobs are known on which the user can locate several cooking utensils, even of different contour, in any desired regions and activate only those heating elements present in each of said regions; each corresponds at least approximately to the contour of the utensil itself.
In the known art, represented for example by DE 4007600 and WO 97/19298, the heating elements are disposed in a matrix configuration.
The first of the two said prior patents comprises a series of cooking regions and sensors which, associated with these regions, activate those covered by the cooking utensil. The purpose of this known solution is to avoid the use of switches or other user-operated control means. In the second previous patent the heating elements are also disposed in matrix formation and are each associated with thermal load monitoring means, which cut off the power if the load is absent. The matrix arrangement of the heating elements provided therein has however the drawback of not enabling xe2x80x9czeroxe2x80x9d level (open circuit) to be obtained for other heating elements not required by the cooking utensil.
The objects of the present invention are to provide a cooking hob comprising a plurality of matrix-arranged electrical heating elements which not only provides versatility but also offers the necessary protection from overtemperature and achieves power cut-off to those heating elements not required by the cooking utensil or utensils.
These and further objects which will be more apparent from the ensuing detailed description are attained by a cooking hob in accordance with the teachings of the accompanying claims.